The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express Review

Note: Some offer details in this article have expired and/or are being changed by the issuer. Appropriate updates will be applied to the article when the changes have been finalized.

Unlike Visa and Mastercard, American Express is both a credit card issuer and a payment network, so American Express knows a lot about how its customers use their credit cards and how they like to earn rewards. What they found was that plenty of busy reward card users were not interested in figuring out which cards offered bonuses for a particular purchase at any given time. Some people just wanted to use one card for everything and earn additional rewards for their purchases.

As a result, American Express introduced the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express, a Credit Cards Explained advertiser. They actually co-opted the slang "Amex" which customers and members of the credit card industry had been using for decades. Instead of offering bonus categories of spending at featured merchants that changed every quarter, as some of the competing cards do, the Amex Everyday has consistent bonus categories while offering additional points when the card is used often.

How this card works

Cardholders earn one point per dollar spent on most purchases, and double points on up to $6,000 spent each calendar year at US supermarkets. In addition, cardholders receive a 20% points bonus during each statement period that they use their card to make 20 or more transactions. Furthermore, new applicants can earn 10,000 bonus points when they use their card to make at least $1,000 in new purchases within three months of account opening.

New cardholders also receive 15 months of 0% APR promotional financing on both new purchases and balance transfers. There is no balance transfer fee on transfers made within the first 60 days of card memebership. After the promotional financing period expires, the standard interest rate will apply, which is currently between 14.99% and 25.99%, which is a variable rate based on the Prime Rate.

Points are earned in American Express' Membership Rewards program, which is one of the most flexible and valuable reward systems offered. These points can be redeemed for merchandise, gift cards and travel reservations made through American Express travel. Or, you can even redeem points for shopping at Amazon.com, Best Buy, TicketMaster and Uber. But an even more valuable way to use points is to transfer them to frequent flyer miles. The Membership Rewards program has partnerships with 17 different frequent flyer programs including Delta, Air Canada, Virgin America, and JetBlue.

There is no annual fee for this card, but American Express does impose a 2.7% foreign transaction fee on all charges processed outside of the United States.

Advantages

One of the strongest features of this card is the ability to earn a 20% bonus on rewards each statement period that you make 20 or more transactions. This can be an easy goal to reach, as it's not uncommon for cardholders to make several transactions each day such as buying gas, groceries, and online shopping. As a result, Amex Everyday cardholders can earn as much as 1.2x on most purchases and 2.4x at US supermarkets, just for using their card often. This compares favorably to many of the other American Express cards, such as the Green and Platinum cards, that have significant annuals fees but don't offer more than one point per dollar spent on most purchases.

In addition, this is the only American Express card without an annual fee that still allows you to transfer points to airline miles. This type of travel rewards program can be superior to airline credit cards, as you have the option to transfer points to the carrier that offers you the best value for your miles at any particular time for the travel you need. And since airlines are constantly changing the number of miles needed for an award flight and the availability of award tickets at the lowest mileage levels, having the option to choose which program you want to transfer your rewards to offers you far more flexibility than earning miles with a single airline.

Finally, this is one of the rare reward credit cards that also offers interest free promotional financing. Although those who regularly carry a balance should look for a credit card with the lowest possible interest rate and not a rewards card, having an interest free promotional financing offer can still be valuable to some.

Disadvantages

It's unfortunate that American Express restricts the double points on groceries to a mere $6,000 in spending each calendar year (although this is a strong indication of how valuable this offer is). It's also disappointing that this card still has a foreign transaction fee which is greater than the value of the points earned. Therefore, customers would be wise to leave this card at home when leaving the country, as there are plenty of other travel reward credit cards that no longer add this unnecessary fee.

Bottom Line

It's very difficult to find a card that allows you to earn frequent flyer miles without paying a hefty annual fee, and this is the only no-fee credit card that offers points that can be transferred to numerous airline programs. This card is ideal for credit card users who don't have time to worry about the nuances of multiple reward credit cards, and don't want to pay an annual fee to use one.

By offering a strong level of rewards for spending, and one of the most valuable credit card reward programs on the market, the Amex EveryDay has become a leader in this highly competitive market.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jason Steele is one of the leading journalists covering the credit card industry and travel rewards. His work appears at many of the top personal finance websites and is regularly syndicated by mainstream sites such as MSN Money and Yahoo! Finance.

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

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EDITORIAL NOTE

Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.

Credit Cards Explained may earn affiliate commissions from our partners on this page. These commissions do not affect how we select, rate, or review products. To find out more, read our complete terms of use.